That armlock from the back position certainly looks like one of those old school TJJ techniques. Its difficult to tell whether or not someone knows their stuff strictly by photos.

It cant hurt to go check this guy out. Ask him specific questions in regards to his BJJ though (if thats what it is that you're interested in). It doesnt matter if hes developed his own style and incorporated BJJ into it or whatnot, but ask him for his rank in pure BJJ. If he avoids answering this question, that could be a red flag.

Stick around and ask if you can watch one of the classes. A classic Gracie Jiu Jitsu class (since he supposedly trained under Rorion) would have a 10 minute warmup, 30 minute drilling session, followed by 20 minutes of live grappling for instance (just to give you a rough structure of the class- its not like this is the way people MUST run their classes). The live grappling part is the key, If he advocates live training, that limits the amount of BS that can accumulate in their minds.

Ah a new goshin jutsu in upstate new york . That is the style I began in 1974 in Rochester. A very convincing made up japanese style karate. Some pretty tough stand up fighters though. ( probably a thread on this somewhere here)
I don't think there is any connnection though, just ironic that this guy came up with the same name for his own made up style. Again, could be a good fighter but the made up japanese stuff is BS.

If you where looking for Aikido, I'd say this sounds pretty good. Since you're actually more interested in BJJ, no this place doesn't look too impressive.
Have you looked for Judo or Sambo or Wrestling. BJJ's not your only option, you know. If that place realy is the only option though, it's probably better than nothing.

Don't let me be giving you the final word on anything, but I have noticed some subtelties:

1) Everything about the dynamic of the photographs leads me to believe that this school teaches (much as it openly claims to) aikido blended with some BJJ techniques. From what I see, it doesn't look like the instructor is by any means a BJJ expert. He might well have trained in BJJ, and might even be a half-decent fighter - but you can bet that were he anything like a purple belt he would be wearing it and advertising as such. As it stands, it only states that he did a "Rorian Gracie distance learning programme" and "trained for five years".

2) This reminds me so much of JJJ school sites where they have galleries of demonstrated techniques, which are identical to those of a Judo school. The difference being, the Judo photos will be a mess. Uke will not often be in the ideal position, and both fighters will at least show signs of struggle. Like many aikido schools, they may practice no (or low) resistance randori.

3) Look at the gallery page. Bottom photo, second from right. They clearly believe in the use of ki to blast opponents out of grappling range. I'm not sure this is entirely compatible with BJJ fighting philosophy.

4) The mix of BJJ and aikido seems very unusual to me. Aikido is known for it's quasi-religious vision, lack of contact, traditions and unhealthy reliance on ki. BJJ (as another Judo/JJ offshoot) is completely the other direction. You would assume that the creators of this Nihon Aikido would go to Judo/JJ and incorporating the original Japanese techniques and training methodologies before attempting something as alien (in terms of philosophy) as BJJ.

Of course, you can train in whatever you like, but to try and blend two things into one and label it as your own creation seems questionable.

“ classes at Barkley's TaeKwonDo at 887 Prospect Avenue (corner of Hampshire & Prospect) Buffalo, NY on Mondays from 6:30pm-7:45pm. First class will be November 7th and class size is limited to 10 people. To sign up for this class contact me via e-mail.
I will also be teaching a class at Flips Gymnastics, 6017 S. Transit Rd, Lockport, NY on Fridays from 6:30-7:45pm. First class will be November 4th. We will be giving an introductory class at this location on either October 21st or October 28th. For more info or to sign up for this class, contact Teresa Schuster at Flips 433-8811. “

hey all,
Beneath Contempt wrote:
"3) Look at the gallery page. Bottom photo, second from right. They clearly believe in the use of ki to blast opponents out of grappling range. I'm not sure this is entirely compatible with BJJ fighting philosophy."

I know this instructor. That is NOT a ki thing being shown in the picture, although it sure looks like it. I remember seeing him do that 2 on 1 technique once. It was actually a full contact grip from both ukes and it is ATEMI directed at both parties at once. To be honest, the ukes look like they are being pretty dramatic for effect, but there is no way this instructor was doing any "KI" repulsion type BS. Just looks like it....for what that is worth.